Improvement in rail-couplings for railroads



S VAN STONE RAIL COUPLING FOR RAILROADS.

No. 39,435. V Patented Aug. 4, 1863 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL vnnsronn, OF PROVIDENCE, nnonn ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT .IN RAlL-COU PLINGS FOR 'RAlLROADS.

, Specification forming part (if Letters Patent No. 39,435; dated August 4, 1863. 4

To all whom it may concern -'Be it known -that I, SAMUEL VANSTONE, of Providence, invthe county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new andimproved method of makingthe rail coupling for railroad rails for which Letters Patent were issued to LeviB. Tyng, of Lowell,

Massachusetts, bearing date thelSth day of February, A. 111852, and numbered 34,452; and'I 'do'hereby declare that the following is a 'full,fcle ar, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in' which- Figure 1 is a transverse section of thesaid coupling' (full-sized) applied to the rail. 'Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the half-bar? ofwhich the said coupling is formed by my improved method. Fig. 3 is a transverse sec tion 'of the half-bar after the first operationot rolling. Fig. 4'is alongitudinal view of the rail-coupling (half-size) appliedto the contiguous ends of two rails. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal view of two half bars riveted together pre-.

the accompanying drawings; second, tw'o thick rigid jaws, a a, which clamp the stemf ot' the contiguous ends of two rails by means of rivets passing through the same third, a

bow, m m, of the proper thickness to yield or spring sufficientlyby setting the rivets m" r r to embrace the ends of the rails firmly, and

'adapt itself to any slight variation in the size of the rails thus coupled, the Coupling thus formed having the additional ieculiarity of coupling the ends of the rails between the sleepers or cross-ties instead of upon such sleepers as in the ordinary way by means of' .a chair.

The methods of making the said coupling, set'fo'rt-h in the said schedule, and indeed all methods hitherto employed for that purpose, have proved more or less objectionable, for

the reason that an expensive quality of iron was required to be worked .into that shape, and that an undue amount of manual labor was necessary-in working the iron by such methods, which increased the cost of the manufacture to a degree that prevented'the introduction of the coupling to public use. The'invention in this case is intended to rc-- .move' these objections, and thereby eheap'en My invention consists, first, inmaking a bar of iron equivalentin form and dimension transversely to one half of the conpling when di: vided vertically in the middle of the stifl'eu' iing-rib 'O,- as shown in Fig. 2; second1y, in fastening two such bars together at. each endby means of rivets, as shown irr-Figs. 5 and 6,.

or otherwise, and welding the divided halves 1 of-the stiffening-rib solidly together by means 3 of suitable rollers, and, thirdly, in cutting thebar thus formed into lengths of fifteen or twenty inches, aslmay be required, for the coupling, and clippingthe'corners of the stit fening-rib, O, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4. p

' The half bar, Fig. 2, may be made of a flat bar of iron, B. the thicker portion of which is about seven-eighths of an inch thick, and the.

thinner portion about one-half an inch thick, by passing the said bar between suitablyformed rollers, to first draw and crimp the bar in the formshown in Fig. 3, and by passing thesame between other rolls it is drawn and otherwise shaped into the half-bar, Fig. 2. The construction and arrangement of the rollsfor forming the half-bar do not (litter in any essential particular from those generally used for rolling iron bars, except that pecu-' liarity of form necessary to give the required form to thehalf-bar, which will be readily understood by any machinist familiar with the turning and shaping of such rolls, and need not therefore'be herein. described. The'next operationis that of Welding the two half-bars together. To "do this I put the two bars together as it is intended they shall finally be welded, and after drilling one or more holes through the divided rib O at each end of-the bar, I rivet the ends together, as

'shown in Figs. 5 and 6, which prevents the two half-bars rroin being displaced in the subsequent operations of heating and welding. The bars thus fastened together are then heated to a welding heat in a suitable furnace, and by means ,of an arrangement of rolls with aformer, which'will presently be described, the divided halves of the rib are by rolling welded solidly together, thus forming a bar of the required shape transversely for the coupling, and while this bar is redhot it is' to be cut into lengths of fifteen or twenty inches, as is required for the couplings, by means of one or more circular saws snitablylarranged for the purpose. Theseleugths or pieces of the'bar are then taken to a pair of shears, and the corners of the rib l are clipped off, as shown by dotted lines in Fi 4L, when, after drilling the holes for the rivets 'r 1' 'r 7 through the jaws a a, the coupling is finished and ready for use.

Figs. '1 and 8 represent the construction and arrangement of the rollsused for welding the divided rib 0 together.

The rolls D and G- which may be of'wrouglit-ii'on, and firmly the arm h of the former shown, against which the mandrel or detachable former brings up and rests as the bar passes through the rolls. Having described: my improved method of making the -saidf rail-coupling, I Wish it understood that I do claim the half-bars when bolted or. riveted together, as this has been done before.

I claimv The welding of two such half bars together, substantially as described, the bar thereby formed to be cut into the requisite lengths or pieces to form the aforesaid rail conpling, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

SAMUEL VANSTONE. Witnesses: 'ISAAG A. BoNMnLE, J AMES H. PARSONS. 

